“Avenged Sevenfold” Review

Hello fellow followers. Adam is here with another review. This time, however, I will be typing a review for the band “Avenged Sevenfold” commonly referred to as A7X. A7x is a band I would classify as hard rock though others may think of them as more of a metal band.

They mostly sing but have about one or two songs every album of screaming. I personally love their screaming myself. Unfortunately after their first album, the lead singer, M. Shadows, lost his voice and had to have surgery. The entire first album was nothing but screaming and the doctor told him that if he didn’t stop that he would lose his voice. So, now he just sings mostly. Recently, A7X’s drummer and back up vocalist, The Rev, died. He, like any other great rock star, died of a drug overdose. He had wrote many of A7X’s songs including Fiction, recently released on their brand new album “Nightmare”, and A Little Piece of Heaven. They had to replace him with a temporary drummer, Mike Portney, the drummer from the band Dream Theater. He finished recording the Nightmare album and is currently finishing their tour with the band Disturbed. In fact, my best friend is going to see them tomorrow. Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed is a good combination. Oh, and for anyone who cares, Disturbed’s new album just came out today.

Now that you know some of Avenged Sevenfold’s history, let’s talk about their actual music. Like I said earlier, A7X’s first album was nothing but scream. I didn’t really like that album but it was before they had three of their best band members yet. The second album is when they started singing and they got big fast. Everyone loved them after they started singing and they just kept getting more popular and popular. The band members are M. Shadows – Vocals, Johnny Christ – Bassist, Zacky Vengence – Guitarist, Sinister Gates – Guitarist, and the recently deceased The Rev – Drummer and Vocalist.

M. Shadows loves throwing his voice into different tones and sounds while singing. I think that this is one of the many reasons that make them so good. Others, however, don’t like this way of singing, therefore not liking A7X. Some good songs t listen to get a good representation of the band is Bat Country, Nightmare, Afterlife, and Welcome to the Family. These are all popular songs but I feel these sum up the band the best. I like all their songs though. IN fact, I have 42 songs by them on my iTunes. And that isn’t all the songs I would like to have. I’m just too lazy to go get them. Definitely gets a five out of five here. I highly recommend this band.    Cya later,     Adam

Music Review : Marilyn Manson

Band Members:

Vocalist – Marilyn Manson

Guitarist – Twiggy Ramirez

Bassist – Andy Gerold

Drummer – Ginger Fish

Keyboardist – Chris Vrenna

Marilyn Manson (named after the pseudonym of the front man and lead vocalist Brian Warner), is an American Rock band first founded as Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids in 1989. They changed it soon after, before being signed to Nothing Records (Trent Reznor’s label). The main things that stand out in his works are the grotesque and macabre imaging that he uses with his words and music videos, and in our generation it comes to no surprise that his fan-base is up in the millions.

Now, there are many who would say that Marilyn Manson is simply to vulgar/strange/horrific to be allowed to perform on stage or even to be able to put out music, but to us fans he is a huge inspiration to our lives. Yes, he may use some explicit viewpoints within his works, but Mr. Warner and his colleagues are the revolutionary minds that we need to change this world for the better. Their lives have been tormented to the point that they no longer feel that they should respect what society claims is normal, but what is “normal” anyway?

Not to stray from the music in this review, let me say that the guitar, bass keyboards, and drum beats within this band’s songs considerably blend with the vocals to the point of neatness. You can almost hear the work which they put forth into the music they have written, which I must applaud. Such order driven into a macabre state is nothing less than perfection in my eyes, and it gives the same feel as the music that we find in the works of Tim Burton’s films (The Nightmare Before Christmas to be more specific).

The vocals are easy to follow, and to give an example let’s take a look at their song Dope Hat:

I peek into the hole, I struggle for control
The children love the show,
but they fail to see the anguish in my eyes
Fail to see the anguish in my eyes
I scratch around the brim, I let my mind give in
The crowd begins to grin,
but they seem to scream when darkness fills my eyes
Seem to scream when darkness fills my eyes, it’s no surprise
Fail to see the tragic, turn it into magic
My big top tricks will always make you happy,
but we all know the hat is wearing me
My bag is in the hat, it’s filled with this and that
My vision’s getting fat, the rabbit’s just a monkey in disguise
Skulls and pills and needles dance before our eyes
They will bite the hand if it is slower than
the quickness of their scrutinizing eyes
Fail to see the tragic, turn it into magic
My big top tricks will always make you happy,
but we all know the hat is wearing me
Chicanery will always make you happy,
but we all know the hat is wearing me

Indeed, there is much metaphorical meaning within the lyrics of this song, but that is another thing which can be admired in Marilyn Manson’s works. Much of their pieces contain wording which is left for the listener to interpret, which can bring much into our thought processing.

Still, no matter how you look at it, these individuals are very talented and gifted, and do not deserve many of the labels put upon them by the media and society. This listener gives them a 10/10 for the amusement which Marilyn Manson has placed into our stereos and headphones. Thank you Brian Warner, Jeordie White, Kenny Wilson, Chris Vrenna,  and Andy Gerold. Thank you for being there for the fans, and always giving us music which we can and will enjoy for years to come.

Special thanks to former members Tim Skold, Stephen G. Bier Jr., John W. Lowery, Timothy M. Linton, Scott M. Putesky, Frederick Streithorst Jr.,  Bradley Stewart, Brian Tutunick, Perry Pandrea, and Wesley L. Borland.

Runaways – A Marvel Review

So, I know I promised to have more stuff up, but life has its little way of TWEAKING the fucking plans that I make. Anyway, I’ve decided to throw up a random review, mainly because of the mentioning of this particular comic series (The Runaways) on a certain forum.

Alright, so The Runaways starts off with your “average run of the mill kids” who just so happen to find out that their parents are evil (I know, overused theme warning). More accurately, their parents are part of a sacrilegious cult plotting world devastation and whatnot, known as “The Pride”. So, the group of teens walks in as their parents are sacrificing a teenage girl to their pagan god or whatever, so The Runaways run away… Go figure.

Just to give a few examples as to how screwed up these kids turned out:

Molly Hayes (AKA Princess Powerful/Bruiser)

Her occultist parents were telepathic mutants who posed as a doctor and a speech therapist. There is much speculation that their relationship was incestuous, due to their using the term “pure blood” to describe their family, though this can all be chocked up as fan-talk.

Molly is the youngest of the group, and is very naive (urm… stupid may be a better term for it, as she tries to catch a wrecking ball like a dodge ball in one of the What If? comics), though she was eleven when she started which may have something to do with it. Another thing to go on is that she actually MISSES her parents. I can just imagine how their reunion would play out (“We missed you so much! Now let us drink your blood for our GOD!”)…

Her power, if you couldn’t tell by her main alias, is, in fact, super strength. She has been shown to have a lifting proximity of around 100 tons, and at only 4’11”, I must say that it’s hard to not tell she’s a mutant at those standards.

Another cool fact: Molly is one of the 198 mutants that retained their powers after the events of House of M.

Karolina Dean (AKA Lucy In The Sky)

Karolina is the daughter of the (secretly outcast alien) Hollywood stars Frank and Leslie Dean, who just so happen to be part of The Pride. She didn’t grow up as quite as much of a spoiled brat as you would think, but she is a “New Age Hippie-Vegan”, as I like to call them, and she originally wanted to be an actress like her mother.

This character is basically Marvel’s attempt at creating their own Supergirl as Karolina’s powers all depend on solar energy. As expected, her powers are weaker at night, but she isn’t completely useless (the moon gives off sun rays -_-;). Among flight, her other powers are energy blasts and force-field projection.

Also, for some odd reason, she is manic-depressive. Can’t cope with the fact that you’re an alien lesbian, who was arranged to marry a Skroll, Lucy?

–

Anyway, these kids and their pet dinosaur (yeah…), end up becoming these renegade super heroes, and because of this have run-ins with the more popular characters of the Marvel Universe. The Runaways typically hate adults, but feel a sort of connection with most of the superheroes, considering their origins as troubled teens as well… Except for Excalibur, who has cast aside their childish years and tend to forget their roots.

The Runaways have also fought numerous villains such as Ultron and Kingpin, though sometimes their view of “the badguy” can lead to them fighting the likes of The Punisher, Iron Man, and even the whole of S.H.I.E.L.D..

A truly interesting series by definition of the word, but this reader can only give it a 7/10. It has its moments, but there are flaws within the story, and how the characters’ minds work. Still, it is a good read for any newcomers to the world of comics.

“Left 4 Dead 2″ Review Preview

OK, so now it’s time for the “Left 4 Dead 2″ review. Do you like zombies? Think they’re cute and cuddly? Think they should be treated with respect? Well then, this game is not for you, because you kill a lot of ‘em. In fact, the whole game is killing zombies. 

“Left 4 Dead 2″ is the sequel game to “Left 4 Dead.” Basically, “Left 4 Dead 2″ is new characters, new weapons, and new campaigns. If you have never played any of the series, I defiantly recommend it, unless of course your one of those zombie lovers. The game starts with you meeting the three other characters that you didn’t pick to play as. It doesn’t explain how the  started, just like the first. This being a sequel game, an explanation would be expected, I think. But whatever,  they didn’t give one. And to be honest, I don’t care.  

…

This game also introduces three new special zombies: the charger, the spitter, and the jockey. The charger comes charger at you faster than any other special and pounds you hard into the ground repeatedly. The spitter hurls acidic spit at you and the ground you walk on. I would recommend staying away from these. Not because they are dangerous, it’s just that they are extremely ugly girls with boobs that hang down to their stomachs; literally! Finally, the jockey; this special will come running close to the ground similar to a monkey.

… For more on this review, visit http://thezooman27.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/left-4-dead-2-review/

Adam

New Super Mario Bros.

Well, I haven’t done a review for any Nintendo games yet, so I guess this is as good a time as any to do so.With this game I’ll go more in depth, and probably go into detail more so on the bad aspects of the game.
Let’s start with the story. Fairly basic one, as you would expect from a Mario title for the Nintendo DS. Princess Peach has been kidnapped, once again, by Bowser. Only this time the mastermind behind it all is Bowser Jr. That’s right, the annoying prick that wants his “Mama” back from Super Mario Sunshine has returned to make a nuisance of himself yet again. This time, however, he is without his Magic Paintbrush, and is forced to fight using his natural abilities, and a few Koopa shells. Don’t threat though, because he’s only the mini-boss at the towers in each stage. The big boss is some sort of deformed creature that fits into the setting (except for Petey Piranha, because he just doesn’t fit in anywhere to tell the truth).

In my opinion, they should have brought Bowser’s nephews and niece back from Super Mario World, but that’s probably just me. This would have given us old school fans something to look forward to in the game, but many of the younger players wouldn’t get the reference anyway. Still, kicking Ludwig’s ass for the 200th time would feel pretty good.

The only part I really HATE about this game is the birth of the “GIANTshroom”. I hate this item. I hate it so fucking much that it hurts. It is basically like the makers of the game were saying, “Here, you don’t even have to try on the first part of the level if you have THIS!” It’s basically just a way for n00bz to fly threw the game without trying at all.

So yeah… That’s pretty much it. Not a lot to say about this game, but it’s worth the twenty-thirty bucks to buy it. Good replay value to say the least. I’m giving it a 7/10.

Peace out.

~VK

Assassin’s Creed II

OK guys, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…. ADAM!!!!!!   But seriously, wassup guys. I was introduced two posts ago so I’m not gonna waste time on that. I have come to you guys today to post a review for the game Assassin’s Creed II. (You can obviously look at the title and pretty much guess what this post is about.)

This game is amazing. If you guys played the first, you will definatly like the second game. You can change the color of your clothing, buy armor and weapons, and even steal other people’s weapons while fighting! And that’s only a few things that are new.

You obviously have money now and many may think that this is a bad thing cause it can lead to no money. Then of course you wouldn’t be able to buy the proper armor. But no, money is pretty easy to come by in this game. You get money from every mission and you can also loot dead bodies and even steal.

The fighting of course has been upgraded as well. Now you can hang from ledges and hide in stacks of leaves and hay to assassinate. You even have two hidden blades! This means you can kill two guards at the same time. There are also new weapons such as maces, short swords, throwing knives, swords, and spears. Unfornutaly the only way to obtain a spear is to steal from a guard who has one.

OK, last but not least is the story line. The story line is one of my favorite parts of a game and I wasn’t disappointed with Assassin’s Creed II.  I won’t give away too much but I will say that it is basically starts with the main character wanting revenge for family deaths then turns out to be following up his dad’s unfinshed work. One last thing; the setting is in Italy.

I usually end a review with the bad points of the game and then give the amount of stars it has earned. I will end with the overall score but I have to say, for this game, I couldn’t find a single bad thing. Assassin’s Creed II is the game to get and I definatly recomend it. 5 out of 5 here.

(Kaizer Edit: God… That misspelling of the word “by” was getting on my nerves… Sorry Adam xD)

Armored Core 4

Well, it’s sad to say that I never had a chance to play 1-3, but still, I feel like I should state my opinions on this game. It was a huge hit in Japan, where they have even created cockpit simulators to run the game with, but in the US, the game didn’t get that lucky, and I for one cannot see why.

The first thing of awesomeness that any player of this game would want to talk about is the customization of your AC model. Every last detail of your robot’s design can be modified, down to the color, parts, decals, and paint patterns. If you guys know me, you should be able to guess that I have made a whole fleet of mechs, souly based upon each of my characters from my various stories.

Next thing to compliment is the controls. Even with just a plain 360/PS3 controler, you still can feel as if you are fluidly commanding your mech as if you were running things yourself. The only problem, at times, can be the camera angles. This is where a camera reset function helps out, but it can still get annoying at times (especially when you’re getting pwned by around 10 enemies at once…).

The story was actually pretty amusing for me. Not amusing in a funny way, but in a way that didn’t make me yawn every time a damned cutscene showed up. The characters are perfectly played out by their voice actors (English & Japanese), and they never seem to skip a beat like you find in other games. This actually made me look forward to watching a cutscene, because I didn’t have to dry my ears of blood by the end of them.

Well, there isn’t really much left to add. Love this game, and the explosions helped this game’s rating by me get pushed up to a 4/5. Gotta love them big booms, amirite?

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Okay, well, this is Kaizer, and I’m going to be telling you all about the awesome (and some not so awesome) things in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2!

Okay, first thing’s first. I’ll tell you guys about the gameplay. Almost exactly like the first game, except for the fusion attacks that they’ve added in. Each pair of characters has their own special fusion that they use once activated, although some are just basic copies of others (Landmaster anyone?). These new attacks last for about 15 seconds, and deliver massive damage to your opponents, and will tear a new asshole in any swarms of weaker enemies that come at you. Pretty kickass all together.

Next thing is the level-up system. IT’s still using the “Power Pips” from the first game, but now the special abilities gain new attributes once they leveled enough (I.E. Deadpool’s machine guns will eventually cause explosions instead of basic damage). Not much has changed here though, so let’s move on.

A few new characters have been added since the first game, and a few have even been taken out (Ex: Blade. Where’s my vampire action, huh Marvel? Well?!). The Hulk, Juggernaut, and Venom are finally playable, but for some reason the dumbasses added Green Goblin. Green Goblin? Are you serious? He sucks so much ass that it makes Kirby look good.

From my experience so far, it’s way more fun to go with the Pro-Reg line. Thus proving, once again, that Ironman is cooler than Captain America. Sorry Cap fans, but he should have stayed dead to Marvel. Seriously. I mean, who would want to use an old HYDRA base for rebel forces? What are you, Cap? A nazi?

So, all in all I’ll give this game a 7 out of 10 on the rock meter. Good enough to keep you playing for a while, but not enough features to make it something amazing to replay.

Peace out.